The clever way Apple was able to trademark the iPad name while keeping the product a secret

One of the key legal steps technology companies take before releasing a new product is securing the trademark for its name. That can be tricky for a company like Apple, famous for developing products under complete secrecy.

This means that when Apple was making the iPad — its first foray into tablet computers — it could not just go ahead and register the "iPad" trademark publicly under its own name.

Apple used a British company named "IP Application Development LLC" to register the trademark. Can you figure out how it chose that name? Take a look at the name of the company — its acronym is "I.P.A.D."

It was vital for Apple to secure the "iPad" trademark, because there was already a handheld device called the iPad on sale — a mobile retail helper called the Fujitsu iPAD.

Gizmodo published a timeline of how Apple managed to gain control of the iPad trademark in China. Once it had set up the IP Application Development company, it used another British company to get in touch with Proview, a manufacturer of computer screens in Taiwan that held the Chinese rights to use "IPAD."

Apple, using the British company Farncombe International, negotiated the sale of the "IPAD" trademark in China, telling Proview that the company would not compete with Proview. Sure enough, Proview sold the rights to the trademark for $54,800.

And what about the Fujitsu iPAD? Fujitsu reached an agreement with Apple that allowed it to use the "iPAD" trademark for handheld devices. We don't know the exact details of that deal — but it's safe to assume that Apple had to pay Fujitsu a large sum to secure the rights to its desired trademark.